Glasgow (SCO) - Turin (IT), until 11 January 2020
From the creative genius of Simon Starling comes a sensational exhibition that conflates Tiepolo’s The Finding of Moses, the former head of Fiat Giovanni Agnelli and a blue Fiat 125 Special.
Simon Starling is one of the most highly rated contemporary conceptual artists. Winner of the prestigious Turner Prize in 2015, he has staged six international exhibitions and his latest project, A-A’, B-B’, is unlike anything that has been done before. This two-part exhibition takes place simultaneously between The Modern Institute in Glasgow (until the end of October) and the Galleria Franco Noero in Turin (until 11 January 2020).
The English artist has successfully juxtaposed two apparently disparate subjects, namely Giovanni Battista Tiepolo’s painting The Finding of Moses (1736 ca.) and a blue Fiat 125 Special, their unlikely common denominator being Gianni Agnelli. In the 1820s, Tiepolo's painting was cut into two unequal parts: the larger section is kept in the Scottish National Gallery in Edinburgh, while the smaller section entered the private collection of Fiat’s former president and is still preserved in the Giovanni and Marella Agnelli Picture Gallery in Turin.
Thanks to the experience, designs and drawings made available by FCA Heritage, Starling was able to identify the most iconic and representative car owned by Gianni Agnelli, a blue Fiat 125 Special, which is easily identified by its distinctive number plate A00000 TO (referring to his nickname L’Avvocato) and is housed in the Heritage HUB.
After having acquired an almost identical model to the one that belonged to the legendary former head of Fiat, Starling had it cut with a band saw into two sections in the same proportion as Tiepolo's truncated work. The two parts of the 125 Special, along with photographic reproductions of Tiepolo’s precious painting and other artworks created by the British artist specifically for this project, have become the centrepiece installations of A-A’, B-B’.
